Chief Justice (CJ) Roxane George SC on Thursday threw out a challenge by the GPSU to the nomination of Mohandatt Goolsarran to the Public Service Commission (PSC).
According to a statement from the Attorney General’s Chambers, the CJ declared the application of the Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) without a “scintilla of evidence, was unmeritorious, frivolous and vexatious”. She also awarded costs of $1.5m against the GPSU.
On June 28, 2023, the GPSU filed legal proceedings challenging the decision of the Standing Committee on Appointments of the National Assembly and the National Assembly to consider nominations from the Public Service Senior Staff Association (PSSSA) to nominate Goosarran to the Public Service Commission (PSC).
The Speaker of the National Assembly and the Attorney General were named as respondents. The statement said that Mandisa Breedy appeared for GPSU and Ralph Ramkarran SC and Kamal Ramkarran for the Speaker. Attorney General Mohabir Anil Nandlall SC, Nigel Hawke, Deborah Kumar, Shoshanna V. Lall, Loretta Noel, Ocelisa Marks and Pierre Squires appeared for the Attorney General.
The statement noted that the GPSU’s argument was that the PSSSA is not a certified trade union recognised by the Trade Union Recognition Act for the purpose of representing public officers for the appointment to the PSC, and therefore could not properly nominate Goolsarran for appointment to the PSC in accordance with Article 200(1)(b) of the Constitution of Guyana.
The statement pointed out that Article 200(1) (b) provides, that the Public Service Commission shall consist of six members, two of whom shall be appointed by the President “upon nomination by the National Assembly after it has consulted such bodies as appear to it to represent public officers or classes of public officers.”
The Attorney General in his arguments on Thursday contended that Applicant had abysmally failed to establish a case of violation of the Constitution or any principle of law or any provision of any statute law.
Furthermore, it was argued by the Attorney General that the framers of the Constitution deliberately and intentionally used the term ‘such bodies as may appear’ in order to lend to the widest possible interpretation. Any attempt to narrow this clear intention would violate or fetter the supremacy of the Constitution.
The statement said that Ramkarran made similar submissions on behalf of the Speaker. Additionally, he pointed out that the Trade Union Recognition Act has no application to the case, and in any event, would have only been relevant if there was a dispute between or among unions in respect of representations of employees, as that is the main objective of that Act.
According to the statement, the Attorney General also underlined that Article 200(1) of the Constitution vests the power to determine the bodies to be consulted, solely with the National Assembly. Accordingly, the National Assembly by Resolution 24 of 2003, decided that the PSSSA would be among the bodies to be consulted pursuant to Article 200(1).
For the past 20 years, he said that the PSSSA has been invited to submit nominees to the Public Service Commission, which it has accordingly done, and its nominees have correspondingly been accepted, adopted by the outer Assembly, and thereafter appointed to the Public Service Commission. Accordingly, the GPSU is now, after 20 years, estopped from now instituting a claim he said.
In dismissing the GPSU’s case, the release said that the Chief Justice awarded costs in the sum of $750,000 each, to the Attorney General of Guyana and to the Speaker of the National Assembly.
